This patent document relates to optical devices that affect dispersion of an electromagnetic signal.
Optical dispersion is a phenomenon observed in various optical materials in which different optical frequency components in an optical pulse travel at different speeds which can lead to an undesired pulse broadening. Chromatic dispersion in optical transmission materials such as optical fiber is known to cause a degrading effect in an optical signal, such as in fiber-optic telecom systems. In a real data stream, the dispersion-induced pulse broadening accumulates over transmission distance and causes overlap between adjacent pulses and thus inter-symbol interference. Chromatic dispersion can limit the maximum reachable distance of optical communication systems. Some dispersion compensators include such as dispersion compensating fiber, fiber Bragg grating, and ring-resonator-based integrated devices.